The following references to and descriptions of prior products or other matter are not intended to be, and are not to be construed as, statements or admissions of common general knowledge in the art. In particular, the following prior art discussion does not relate to what is commonly or well known by the person skilled in the art, but may assist in the understanding of the present invention.
There is currently world-wide concern about the level of use of electrical energy for both domestic and commercial purposes. In part this concern is based on the greenhouse gas production associated with the generation of electrical energy, and the contribution of that greenhouse gas to anthropogenic global warming. There is also a concern for the capital cost involved in building the electricity generating plants and electricity distribution networks required to generate and distribute an increasing amount of electricity.
A significant contributor to the energy use of households is the audio visual equipment including multiple devices such as televisions, television decoders, television recorders and sound equipment now found in virtually all homes.